Michael asked Sebastien de Castell:

In Saint's Blood are the fencing terms real? Eitherway, I'm loving how Falcio and Kest keep interpreting the events in the book through the lense of duelist types.

Sebastien de Castell Hi Michael,

The fundamental movements of combat are real as are the tempos (timings and such) of the fights. Whenever you see an elaborate name for a movement such as "the lark's pirouette", those are always invented by me to suit the world of the book.

There are few if any classical books on approaches to duelling in our own world (lots on fencing, but not duelling) as it really wasn't as long-standing a tradition as we sometimes think. However in Tristia, where trial by combat and judicial duels are a fundamental aspect of the culture, I wanted there to be at least some masters who tried to delineate the various strategies to surviving such deadly forms of combat. Thus we get the sanguinist, ludator, and other types of duellists.

Hope this all makes sense!

Best,

Sebastien

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